Two orthopedists, a medical receptionist, and a bystander were all killed by a gunman who had back surgery a month ago.
Police have now revealed the motive behind the shooting. Last month, Michael Louis had an operation on his back. But the pain had become too much to bear, he claimed. And when an enraged Louis couldn’t find relief, he blamed the man trying to help—his doctor.
Louis killed 4 victims and then himself at a medical office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday afternoon, using a semi-automatic rifle he bought just three hours earlier from a local gun store.
Louis niece told the Daily Beast, “We are aware that he has been experiencing back pain for a long time but [there is] no reason for this senseless act,” she said. “We are a Christian-based family. We have never experienced this before.”
Dr. Preston Phillips, an orthopedic surgeon who performed Louis’ back surgery, was killed, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said at a press conference Thursday. Louis had been released from the hospital on May 24 but continued to complain that he was in pain, according to Franklin.
He called to complain “several times over several days,” Franklin said, including on Wednesday, the day of the shooting, when he called Dr. Phillips’ office again, “complaining of back pain and wanting additional assistance.”
At 2 p.m. that same day, Louis purchased the AR-15-style rifle from a local gun store. He took it to the hospital along with a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun he’d bought on May 29 from an area pawn shop, Franklin said.
Officers were called to the Natalie Medical Building, near St. Francis Hospital. When they arrived, they heard one last gunshot, which they believe was Louis killing himself.
Phillips was found dead in an exam room in the Warren Clinic Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine on the second floor, according to Franklin.
A second orthopedist, Dr. Stephanie Husen, was killed in the shooting. The other two victims were identified by authorities as Amanda Glenn, a receptionist, and William Love, who had accompanied a patient to an appointment there.
Love and Glenn “stood in the way, and Louis gunned them down,” Franklin said, noting that Love was shot while holding a door closed so someone else could escape through another exit.
Via KOTV:
William Love did not work for Saint Francis… he was on the second floor of the Natalie Building as a patient, according to Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin. Franklin says Love held a door closed to allow his wife to escape out of another door. Franklin says Michael Louis shot Love and while efforts were made to save him, Love did not survive. His family says when Love heard gunshots he knew his wife would not be able to get away. He sacrificed his life for hers.
I’m told Love and his wife had just bought an RV a few weeks ago and that he was U.S. Army Veteran who retired as a First Sergeant.
Franklin said a note was found on Louis that “made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way. He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”
Phillips was the section chief of the Warren Clinic and specialized in spine disorders, joint reconstruction, and surgical procedures. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1990, completed his residency at Yale New Haven Hospital, and was a jazz aficionado, The Oklahoman reported. He also sat on the board of directors of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, which seeks to “transform society’s divisions into social harmony” in memory of 1921’s brutal Tulsa Race Massacre.
Husen, a dog lover, specialized in sports and internal medicine. A patient remembered her on Facebook as “an incredibly warm, smart, and caring woman… I just don’t know how to feel or what to say. But I just wanted to testify that Dr. Husen was a fine woman and she will be missed.”
In a statement issued Thursday, the St. Francis Health System said it would be offering counseling, pet therapy, and other services to “members of our family who need help coping with and processing the tragedies that occurred yesterday.”
Sending condolences to the families of all the victims.
